NASA will send helicopter to Mars to test otherworldly flight

[shenmue]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44090509

NASA is sending a helicopter to Mars, in the first test of a heavier-than-air aircraft on another planet.

The Mars Helicopter will be bundled with the US space agency's Mars rover when it launches in 2020.

[Glamrock]

1. How cool is that?

[doc03]

2. I have a sugestion for NASA send Marine 1 along with its passenger, please!

[OnyxSharpie]

5. We're gonna need that plane.

And I wouldn’t wanna take the chance that his DNA would somehow evolve into a new lifeform.

[Nitram]

3. I'd love to see the design of the helicopter. The atmosphere is so thin the blades must be enormous?

[SCantiGOP]

6. There's another thread in this forum

It notes that the device will only weigh 4 pounds, and the blades will rotate about 10 times faster than helicopters on Earth.

[Brother Buzz]

8. Thinner atmosphere but lighter gravity

Gravity on Mars is one third of ours; I bet the eggheads had fun crunching the numbers.

[OnyxSharpie]

4. Drone would've been cheaper. nt

[SCantiGOP]

7. At 4 pounds

This is more of a drone than a helicopter.